Vatican Radio: Propagation by the Airwaves by Marilyn J. Matelski (review)

480 BOOK REVIEWS volume first presents several congratulatory discourses by ecclesiastical dignitaries , followed by the citations for the conferral of five honorary degrees, the first, I believe, in the history ofthe Institute. Most of the book consists of the papers delivered at the convocation, in Italian, French, German, and English. The first "Joseph Lecture" was delivered by the late André de Halleux, O.F.M., the noted Syrian patrologist from Louvain, in the form of what he called a theological autobiography. ThreeJesuit professors at the Institute,Vincenzo Poggijohn Long, and Edward Farrugia, gave papers on the early history of the Institute, its role in the ecumenical movement, and its contributions to dogmatic theology. Gabriele Winkler spoke on its achievements in the study of eastern liturgies; Gervais Dumeige, S.J., spoke on its contributions to the study of spirituality, and Carmelo Capizzi, SJ., on the study of the history of the Christian East, and Msgr. Joseph Prader addressed its impact on the study of eastern canon law. An account of his fifty years of scholarly service for the Eastern and the Western Churches by Wilhelm de Vries, SJ., who was not present at the convocation, is also included. The second "Joseph Lecture" was delivered by the German theologian , Hans-Joachim Schulz, who looked into the future to see the contributions to be made by the Institute to ecumenism and to scientific theology. The book includes several photographs of speakers and ceremonies. It ends with lists of hierarchs who have studied at the Institute and a list of professors who have taught there. It is a well edited and attractive volume, and it should be of great interest to those concerned with relations between the Eastern and the Western Churches and with the efforts, especially on the scholarly level, being made to bridge the gap that still separates them. George T. Dennis, SJ. The Catholic University ofAmerica Vatican Radio: Propagation by the Airwaves. By Marilyn J. Matelski. [Media and Society Series.] (Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. 1995. Pp. xx, 199. $55.00.) Radio HVJ,"H" for Holy See, "V" forVatican, and "J" for Jesus Christ, has for almost three-quarters of a century served the pope and the Holy See as a medium for the propagation of ecclesiastical policies. Against the background ofthe history ofVatican Radio, Matelski seeks to analyze its effectiveness within the context of a discussion of models of social change and models of leadership styles as well as the ecclesiological changes of the twentieth century. Such a goal is consonant with the challenge of interdisciplinary studies, and this work illustrates the perils of such endeavors. The outline of the history of Radio HVJ in the author's introduction whets the reader's appetite for more details ofits achievements and its failures. One hopes for analysis of its role during World War II and during the "Cold War" together with the reaction of the various concerned governments. The United States' "Voice of America," the Soviet BOOK REVIEWS 481 Union's "Radio Moscow," China's "Radio Peking," and Britain's famed "BBC are cursorily mentioned and the opportunity to compare them critically to Vatican Radio is lost. Unfortunately for the historian, each chapter is devoted more to sociological and theological analysis of the Church and various forces within it than to an exposition of the role ofVatican Radio. Too often mention ofVatican Radio appears only at the end of a particular chapter. In grounding her historical and theological analyses, the author occasionally relies on biased or erroneous sources, and on other occasions misreads her sources. One can forgive mention that "Monsignor Achille Ratti, the papal nuncio in Poland, assumed the bishop's miter to succeed Pope Benedict XV in 1922" (p. 45), omitting his admittedly brief sojourn as Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, whence he rose to the papacy. It is more difficult to overlook the table of the popes (pp. 5-15) in which we find that St. Peter "Bestows the power 'to bind and loose' (Roman legal terms) to all his successors, thus separating the power of the papacy from the sanctity of the individual pope." There we also discover that Pope St. Sylvester I "Crowns the pagan Emperor Constantine as pontifex...